Sugarbunny And The Honeybees
by Beekiller-Johanna from Finland
Summary: Psiioniic tries to deal with a new life and freedom, as well as co-habitation with not just one, but two fellow Captors. Meeting John's Nanna leaves him struggling with feelings that do nothing to make things easier on him. Prompt fill. Crosspost from AO3. Psii 3 Nanna rare pair, Nanna is tagged as Jane here.


Chapter 1: There she is

Things had been disorienting when he had been revived after the game. He had been in the dream bubbles just long enough to realize that he was dead. Then everything had sort of twisted and he woke up back in his body, which he had forgotten how to use centuries ago, hideously motion sick and desperately trying to remember how to barf. Fortunately he was on his side, because when someone kneeled behind him and touched his shoulder, his brain found the part responsible for reflexes. He threw up. He coughed. He swallowed what remained in his mouth. Then Psii shivered, just because he could. His eyes fluttered open, and with some effort he remembered how to actually control their movement. Upon looking around, he felt an ache in his heart and a burning behind his eyes as he saw two of his old friends, Disciple and Dolorosa, staring back at him with such pity in their eyes.

There hadn't been much chance of mistaking whose improbably warm hand rested on his shoulder, either. When Signless had turned him carefully on his back, he had tried to say hi. He'd managed to get out a raspy, dry sigh that had sounded just as ancient as he was. The corners of his mouth twitched from failed attempts to smile. The message seemed to get across anyways. The candyblooded mutant, his oldest friend and the palest of his diamonds, had simply smiled back and gently papped his face: "Hey there. It's been quite a long while, huh?"

Psiioniic didn't bother stopping the tears of joy. His horns sparked and he reached out with his psionics, the one thing he still remembered how to use. He yanked Signless down on the floor and arranged their limbs in a clumsy imitation of a hug. With the aid of his psionics, Dolorosa and the Disciple soon also joined the cuddle pile.

Between the purring, the hugs, the fits of laughter and Psii's own rusty attempts to purr, he didn't notice the argument in the background before a weird-looking machine sailed over the group. It fell to the ground with a deafening crash somewhere outside his field of vision. He couldn't make out the words, just an angry voice with an alien ring to it.

Some other voices spoke out, probably trying to reason with the person who shouted. The one being yelled at answered unapologetically, with a voice that oozed a constant 'fuck you' to the world. A voice that Psii knew far too well. In retrospect, it wasn't a huge surprise that he had a panic attack from hearing the Condesce. What was a surprise was the ineffectiveness of Signless' shoosh-paps against it.

Psii didn't remember much of what happened after that. His next memories were from the rooftop where the game deposited the trolls along the humans that lived in the building. He gradually ceased hyperventilating and noticed that there was new knowledge in his head, an info dump made by the game about the new world they found themselves in. He mentally rifled through the info dump: "Less dangerous beasts, ok. Sunlight non-lethal though seriously injuring to most trolls, definitely an improvement. Planet populated by humans, (what's a human?) pink monkey fake troll aliens… No Lusii, huh? Odd way to care for wrigglers… Comfortable apartments reserved for the trolls, nice. Trolls listed as refugees and as an endangered species, citizenship gained recently."

All in all Psii wasn't disappointed by this second chance. At first Signless and his friends moved in with Psiioniic to help him rehabilitate. As he gradually regained control of his body, one by one the others moved 'back' into their apartments to get to know their descendants better. Half a sweep after arrival, and with the amount of adults in the apartment finally down to one, Psii's own descendants moved 'back' in with him. Well, one of them was technically an alternate version of Psiioniic himself, but it was easier to just think of both of them as his descendants. The curiosity was certainly mutual, but Psii's unusual size (due to his unnaturally long life) apparently intimidated the young Captors. They sneaked around him, never spoke first, stared at him when they thought he didn't see and pretended to ignore him when he looked at them… Psii didn't know how to break the stalemate they were in, so he waited for the young ones to get less jumpy around him. It was all Psii could think of, he knew nothing of modern day youth, and had long since forgotten how to properly interact with people. A few weeks passed.

Eventually it was Signless' descendant who gave all three of them the push they needed. One weekend the younger Captors were at an all-day gaming-marathon at the human residence on the top floor. They and their friends adjusted their sleeping schedule just to participate. Psiioniic stayed up late, doing nothing in particular. He had trouble fitting in a recuperacoon, so it wasn't unusual for him to just stay awake to avoid the hassle. Around noon, Psii jumped up from the sofa when the door slammed open. Karkat burst through the door followed by Sollux, Kankri, Mituna, and finally Dave, who was carrying a bowl of popcorn. Karkat started screaming at him: "What the hell is wrong with the three of you?! Are you all completely pan addled or do you even have any half-assed excuse for being the biggest embarrassments to everything sapient and sentient ever?!"

Psii was unsure how to react. None of the other young trolls had ever raised their voices at him, Karkat included, and the whole situation left Psii at loss for words. "What? Err, I-I…"

"KK, don't meddle, pleathe jutht don't. Drop it and we'll go back to gamiing, ok?"

"Karkat! That is very rude and potentially triggering to people with brain-injuries, like Mituna. I am terribly sorry Psiioniic, I tried to warn Karkat to not interfere with the personal relations between you and your descendants, considering that…"

"Shut your wind hole you nook whiff, I'm not finished!"

"Holy shit, I knew this drama would be worth seeing. I mean damn, TV ain't got nothing on live quality entertainment like this," Dave said and shared some popcorn with Mituna, who stood beside the door with him, albeit looking rather confused and maybe a tad worried.

"Has it even occurred to any of you four horned freaks that your hoofbeastshit drama is affecting other people? And I can't do anything about removing the drama from my life because you all have moirails and there are no rivalries to auspistice! But god damn! I still personally have to deal with all of you bitching and moaning to your respective moirails about how you want to get to know each other, but are too much of a grubfucking bunch of globeless cowards to flap your lips and make the noise known as speech! Just put me out of my probably well-deserved misery already and fucking talk to each other, you idiots!"

There was a stunned silence, precisely two seconds long, which made the tick-tock of the living room's clock stand out. Psiioniic stared, trying to process what Karkat had said, as Sollux worried his lip with the Captor's trademark double fangs. Kankri gaped at Karkat before breaking the silence: "My apologies on Karkat's behalf. While I am certain he means well by interfering, his chosen method could have been better thought out, and less riddled with insults. Though I must admit he has made some progress on curbing that particular habit. If you feel triggered and need your moirail, I could go fetch him…"

"I'm fine… I think. Yeah, overwhelmed but fine. Thankth, eh, thanks for offering anyway…", he said. He looked at Kankri and Karkat with a smile: "It's weird how much like the Signless you both are, in your own ways."

He saw Sollux and Mituna briefly exchange a wary look when he turned to them. "Is it true? Do you really want to get to know me? I mean, on a personal level, beyond this 'sharing a hive' –thing?"

The Captor boys were radiating nervousness, Mituna by twitching and Sollux by slouching in on himself. They both mumbled a barely audible yes. Psii smiled and with a crackle of his psionics he pulled all four trolls in for a group hug, the popcorn Dave was dropping on Mituna's open palm fell on the floor instead. Psii's armful of Captors were stunned into silence. On the other hand, the armful of Vantas' were squirming and hissing protests at the sudden physical contact. Karkat's protests were pretty obviously half-hearted and more for show than anything, but Kankri was frantic: "Mister Psiioniic, I demand that you let go off me at once! Touching is extremely triggering to me and I did not consent to this embrace! This is exceedingly inappropriate behaviour from a responsible adult!"

"I never claimed to be responsible, but as you wish," Psiioniic chuckled and his horns sparked. A second later Kankri was by the door, holding Dave's popcorn bowl, and Dave found himself filling Kankri's spot in the surprise group hug.

"Whoa, what the heck man, I came here to watch the drama unfold, not to join in on it. Yet here I am."

"It was this or let Karkat go as well."

"You forgot the 'not letting Karkat go and not involving Dave' –option."

"That was never an option. Three is not my number."

"Right, that totally makes sense" Dave deadpans.

"Thhut up Dave, you wouldn't underthtand. It'th a Captor thing."

"Fine. Can we go back to gaming now?"

Psii sighed and let go off them, Mituna was strangely clingy and held onto his arm and leaned against his side. Psii gave a small smile: "You should go back. You made an effort to be with your friends today, don't waste the opportunity. We can talk later, I'll still be here when you come back."

Mituna tugged on his arm: "You thhould come with uth."

"That'th… actually not a bad iidea. Dave? Can he come, too?"

Dave shrugged: "If Bro says it's okay, I'm fine with it. But no more hugging me."

"My apologies for that. I don't usually hug people, except maybe occasionally my quadrants and close friends."

The whole group returned to the Strider residence. Though the place was jam-packed, Dave's Bro didn't mind the additional guest, so Psii stayed. He sat on the couch and watched quietly. He didn't know much about video games, they were too modern for him to know, but since the younger Captors were interested in them, he decided to observe and learn what he could.

Bro offered Psii a beer, which he politely accepted, cautiously sipped and promptly spat out, declining any further offers. Bro sat with him and tried to make small talk. Psii suspected he was flirting, but his attempts didn't seem to stick to any single quadrant, which was mildly concerning. Apart from that and the mild panic attack Psii had when Feferi showed up with snacks, the day went well. Karkat retrieved Signless to pacify Psii from the Peixes-induced panic. Signless looked like he had fallen asleep on his desk again, if the ink smudge on his face was any indicator. He fell asleep on the couch after Psii was sufficiently pacified.

As the day passed and turned into evening, the troll guests left one by one. The Vantas and Captor trolls were the last ones to leave. Signless was still sleeping on the couch, but no longer alone. Sprawled over his legs Mituna snored lightly. Kankri was also asleep, but he sat on the floor, leaning against the couch.

Karkat was about to wake them up but Psii stopped him: "Let them sleep, I can carry them. Sollux, can you take Mituna back to our hive? And maybe put him in the 'coon?"

Sollux picked up Mituna with his psionics: "I can get back to the hiive, but I make no promiitheth about gettiing hiim iin the 'coon. I miight do iit, but it dependth on iif I'm feeling up to iit when I get there."

Psii carried Signless in his arms and Kankri with his psionics. He followed Karkat to their hive and waited quietly as Karkat fiddled with the keys and the lock. Once they got inside, Psii placed Kankri on the couch and walked into Signless' room. He stopped by the door and stared at the mess. The recuperacoon was barely visible under the clothes tossed over it, the floor and every other piece of furniture had papers and books haphazardly all over them. The most recent paper on the desk had an ink smudge that looked like it matched the one on Signless' face. Looked like he had been very productive over the past few days.

Psii sighed. He cleared the floor with his psionics and stacked the books and papers neatly by the desk. He left the desk untouched, not knowing what was mess and what was part of a working order. The clothes on the recuperacoon he dumped in a pile next to it. Clearing the various seating units also revealed the actual pile in the corner and added a couple more stacks by the desk. Psii looked around the room. Satisfied with the results, he walked further in and gently lowered Signless on the floor in front of the recuperacoon.

He began undressing his moirail by taking off Signless' boots. Psii frowned when he saw that there were no socks on Signless' feet. Had he really left in that much of a hurry to pacify Psii? Since the skin didn't appear damaged, Psii moved on. He removed the cloak and hung it on the wall. He was unfastening the belt on Signless' pants when Karkat walked in.

"I thought I'd just let you know that I tucked in Kankri. He gets to sleep on the rec block's multi-seating unit because that asshole will give you one of his insufferable lectures if you dare to think of his best by putting him in a recuperacoon when he's asleep. And he gives two fucking lectures on top of the first one if you undress him before putting him a 'coon. If you're as smart as Signless says you are, don't mess with Kankri."

Psiioniic replied with a serious face that did not fit the amusement in his voice: "I have been warned. But if you're not planning on sleep walking, you should go to your recuperacoon and I'll worry about getting this Kankri to his."

Karkat rubbed his face sleepily: "Yeah, that's probably a good idea… Wait, what do you mean 'this' Kankri? You mean the Signless?"

Psii pulled off and folded the pants. "Well, yes. You didn't know it is also his name?"

Karkat looked embarrassed. "I… I never thought about it. I guess it makes sense, since he and Kankri are each other's alternative universe versions. I mean it was pretty fucking obvious that he's a Vantas, I'd have to be completely pan-addled to not figure that out. It's just… Everyone calls him Signless, even you and his weird troll-lusus. That's how he introduces himself to people, it even reads on all the mail addressed to him. Signless Vantas. The Signless. Mr S. Vantas. Ugh, I'm too tired for this shit. I'll go now."

"Sleep well," Psii called after him. Karkat grunted and waved over his shoulder as he walked out of the room. Signless snored on the floor. Psii lifted him and had put him halfway in the 'coon when he woke. His red eyes found Psiioniic's heterochromatic ones and his hands fisted on Psii's sleeves for support. "Hey there. Did you have a good day?"

"It could have been better, but I can't blame mini-Peixes for the accident of life. She didn't choose her ancestor, and even less to look like her. But other than that it was an ok day. Oh, and I think that mister Strider was maybe flirting with me. Shush, no, don't even start it. We can talk about it later. Save your eyebrows until then.", Psii brushed his thumb along Signless' cheek bone. Signless yawned and leaned into the touch.

"Fine. But you should also get some sleep, properly in a recuperacoon."

"Ugh, if you say so… I really need a bigger recuperacoon, it's always such an acrobatic feat to squirm in and out of that 'coon."

"Mmmh… We'll figure something out. Maybe the Zahhaks can modify your 'coon. Or something… Go sleep now."

"Sure." Psii gently head butted Signless and then let him slip into the sopor slime. His eyes closed and Psii left quietly.

Back at the apartment, Psii found both younger Captors in their respective recuperacoons. Only their horns were visible when he peeked in their rooms. Reluctantly he walked to his own room, undressed, and with great effort he managed to get in his own 'coon, though his horns almost got stuck. Sleep claimed him soon.

Psiioniic did not rest in peace. Bad dreams sneaked past the sopor haze and plagued his slumber. There was something behind him, and it was caught on his horns. He couldn't move. He was stuck.

Upon awakening Psiioniic was still enough in the grip of his nightmares that a relatively small blast of psionics slipped loose in his confusion. He got his powers back in control as soon as he regained his senses but it was too late to save the ceiling, let alone the top of his Beehive shaped recuperacoon. With his horns stuck on the inside of the 'coon he had a good view of the hole in the ceiling, as well as the scorched paint on the upper floor's ceiling. Not that he could do anything about changing the view. There was a knock on the door: "Are you okay?"

Psii snorted in amusement. "Apart from being stuck in my recuperacoon, I'm just fine."

Sollux, wearing only jeans and carrying a moist towel on his shoulders, opened the door. "What do you mean… Oh, ouch. Do you need help? And did you do that?"

Sollux had stepped closer and now pointed at the ceiling in disbelief. Psii sighed: "Yes, I could use help. The ceiling was an accident."

Mituna wandered in, rubbing his face sleepily and covered in nothing but red sopor: "Whast was that grubfukcning boomn? I'ms tying to seelp."

"Pthii got thtuck in hith 'coon and broke the ceiling."

"Speaking of which, I would like to get unstuck."

Sollux trudged closer but Mituna was distracted by the ceiling: "Heyy… Nice hole. That maeks a rad ventilliaton chute."

"If 'rad' means 'good', then I guess that's true. I just hope nobody lives up there."

Sollux waved his hand dismissively as he inspected Psii's predicament: "Don't worry about it. That wath actually my perthonal apartment until Mituna and I moved in with you. It wath too much trouble cleaning a hive that big tho it'th jutht thtorage thpace now. I mothtly rent itth rec block to the Zahhakth."

"Cnan you get Psii unsuckt? Unscutk? Nngh! Yu know waht I mean."

"Yeah. I know. Pthii, there'th two wayth I can do thith. I can try to dunk you down in the thopor and hopefully your hornth get loothe. Or I can break away the recuperacoon piece your hornth are thtuck on."

"Break it, I will not dive in sopor and risk breaking my neck based on wishful thinking."

He felt Sollux using psionics on the recuperacoon near Psii's horns, and it felt WEIRD but then the piece Sollux was pulling snapped off. Finally unstuck, Psii inhaled sharply and rubbed his chin. He shifted around and stood up with only minor struggles, dripping honey-coloured sopor slime. "Thank you for helping, Sollux. Seeing that my recuperacoon is now easier to enter and exit, I might actually use it more often. Signless will also be pleased. He might try to hug you."

Psii stepped out of the recuperacoon and inhaled sharply when his longer horns bumped against the ceiling. He grimaced from the shock and lowered to his usual, barely noticeable slouch that left a few inches between his horns and the ceiling. Sollux and Mituna stared at the clown car effect in action.

"Eh… What are you looking at?"

"Pthii, jutht… How tall are you, exactly?"

"I don't know, but I'm a little taller than Grand Highblood. Though he has more problems trying to fit his horns in these human hives. Now, if the ablution chamber is free, I'd like to rinse off the sopor slime."

"Okay, but I kinda uthed the latht dry towel in the ablution block. There'th more in the clothet."

"I can handle it. You kids just go back to what ever you were doing before I woke up."

The young Captors returned their rooms and Psii made his way to the shower, grabbing some fresh towels from the closet with his psionics. The water was already set to a suitable temperature for yellow bloods, but Psii turned up the heat until it matched Signless' body temperature. It was comforting and eased the tension caused by his nightmares, so he took a long time to shower. He sat on the floor while scrubbing himself with a bright red, strawberry scented shower gel that made him think of his moirail. He didn't have much sopor in his hair, but he used shampoo any way.

Almost an hour later, when Psiioniic was done showering, he wandered into the kitchen, mostly dried off and wearing a towel. Sollux was there, munching on a piece of toast absentmindedly while reading some sort of book. Psii cleared his throat. "Sollux?"

Sollux grunted in response and turned the page with his psionics. "I think your bread is burning in the toaster."

"Fuck!"

Fifteen minutes and a lot of scrambling later the minor crisis had been solved and both sat at the dinner table with fresh toast. "Sollux… If I may ask… What were you reading so intently that you didn't notice your breakfast burning?"

"Oh, thith," Sollux handed the book to Psiioniic, "it'th a human verthion of thomething I uthed to read ath a kid. It'th weird how familiar and yet different it ith. Thingle quadrant thythtem and mammalian reproduction apparently make a huge difference in a thtory."

Psii looked at the cover picture of a yellow haired human boy in orange clothing and leafed through some of the pages. "I see. Why are the illustrations printed in black and white but the cover in colours?"

"Don't know. Maybe it'th cheaper that way. Anywayth, remember John, that blue-eyed human boy who wath at Thtrider'th hive? The one who moved into the empty hive one floor up?"

Psii nodded and gave the book back to Sollux. "Vaguely, but yes, I remember him being there."

"Well, he told me and Dave that hith ancethtor ith moving into the empty hive on our floor. He athked me and Dave to help carry her thtuff in when they get here."

"Excuse me, her? His ancestor is female?"

"Yeah, I athked the thame thing. John thaid humanth alwayth have both a male and a female ancethtor. Mammalth are fucked up like that."

"That's certainly… exotic."

"Mmh. After that I heard them talk about thith," Sollux gestured at the book, "tho I decided to take a look. Figured I could kill two featherbeathtth with one thtone."

"Clever idea. Have you decided if you are going to help this John and his ancestor?"

"I don't know. Maybe, if I get paid. Probably not."

"I have to admit I'm curious about how much the John boy and his female ancestor resemble each other. I might go and see for myself."

"Jutht be carefull, Egbert wath hith game'th leader. Karkat wath our leader becauthe he yelled until everyone got tired and let him be the leader. Egbert is thubtler, more dangerouth. He hath a talent of making people want to help. And the wortht part ith that he doethn't alwayth even know he'th doing it." Sollux warned Psii and bit another mouthful of toast. Psii hummed an acknowledgement and concentrated back on his breakfast. The shower started running. Sounded like Mituna was awake.

Sollux eventually retreated back into his room, having finally noticed that he had gone from eating and reading to just reading. He would have cleared the table if Psiioniic hadn't insisted that he still needed most of the foods. He liked his breakfasts long, slow, and full of variety. He took a little bit of everything and savoured the flavours.

Psii was reading a newspaper when Mituna came to the kitchen. He reached over Psii's shoulder, dripping water on the newspaper, and grabbed a few slices of toast. "Hiya Spii! Pthii. Wehre's the honye?"

Psii pointed at the empty jar on the counter. "There might be more in the cupboard, I haven't checked yet."

Mituna sparked and twitched, spewing forth noise that was probably trying to be swearwords. Just as quickly as the fit started, it was over. Mituna sighed, sounding rather exasperated. "I not gnona look for the hony. Werhe's the jam?"

Psii handed the right jar to Mituna. "Your towel fell on the floor."

"Yeah."

"Aren't you going to pick it up?"

"Nah."

"Okay, just checking. It's not my ass that's going to dry stuck to the chair."

"OGMF I haet when that hapepns."

"Me too."

They continued talking while Mituna had breakfast. Psii was done eating but he stayed for the company. He cleared the table and did the dishes while they talked. Sollux, who came back into the kitchen for a drink, stayed to chat after he first gawked at Mituna sitting naked at the dinner table despite his fallen towel being within arm's reach on the floor. After that he joined the conversation until Mituna was done eating. Psii thought it was a nice start for bonding with his descendants. Eventually Sollux went back to working on his latest coding project, Latula dropped by to help Mituna get dressed and went skateboarding with him, and Psii parked himself on the couch after getting dressed. He turned on the TV and channel surfed for several hours, before Signless dropped by and, after hearing about the incident with Psiioniic's recuperacoon, caused a minor altercation with Sollux by barging into his room and hugging him in the middle of his coding stupor. Fortunately he was used to much bigger psionic sparks and received only minor burns.

A week passed without any greater incidents, other than the realization that playing space shooters and military or space themed first person shooters when Psii was around wasn't very wise. Signless had to pap him out of a couple PTSD attacks until they figured out the cause, but after that those two genres were strictly banned in his presence.

At the end of the week John dropped by early one evening to ask if Sollux had decided to help with the moving. John's ancestor would arrive with her belongings later that night. Unlike usually, Sollux actually came to the door to inform John that he wasn't going to do anything if there was no cash payment involved. Also, Sollux came to the door covered in sopor slime and wearing only underwear. Even his glasses were missing, which was highly unusual even for a downswing day. John, in spite of his reputation of being somewhat oblivious, noticed this glaring wardrobe malfunction. "Uh, Sollux? Is... I mean what's wrong? You don't usually come to the door this close to naked."

"AA and I termiinated our moiirallegiiance latht night. We've been driiftiing apart for a whiile now, but it doethn't make thith any eathier."

John rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, wow... That sucks. Are you okay? I mean, of course you're not okay now, but will you get okay?"

"Whatever, I'll liive. I'm goiing back to 'coon now." Sollux trudged off without another word. Psiioniic was unsure what to say, and thus failed to say anything.

"Mister Captor? I don't suppose you'd be willing to help? The faster we can unload the truck, the sooner we can send it away. Nanna's going to open a new shop, so right now she can't afford to waste money on something she can do with the help of friends and family."

"John, was it? I'm not sure if I'll come help, though I'm curious to see this ancestor of yours, and with my abilities I would undoubtedly make all other helpers obsolete. I understand your problem, but I think I should stay around to see if Sollux needs me. Ask Signless, he's often willing to help, not to mention eager to make new friends. Oh, and you might want to ask the Zahhaks, too. They are strong and like showing off their strength. I might drop by later, if Sollux doesn't need me."

"Okay mister Captor! Thanks!"

"No need to thank, and please, call me Psiioniic. Everyone else does." Psii gave John a shy smile. He decided he liked the human kid who approached him so fearlessly even though this was their first conversation. John said goodbye and left.

Later that evening, after Sollux had showered and dressed himself, Psii sat in the kitchen and borderline ambushed the young Captor when he entered. "I made hot chocolate, if you want it."

Sollux flinched and slipped on the smooth tiles of the kitchen floor. "Ga-aahh! FUCK! Holy thhiit, what are you doiing thiittiing iin the dark liike that? God, iit feelth liike my blooputhher jutht exploded!"

Psii flicked the lights on from across the room and sipped his hot chocolate. "Sorry about that. The lights were bothering me. They're so bright I get sleepy if I have nothing to do. Umh... Where are your shoes? Aren't socks a tad too slippery for walking on the kitchen floor?"

"Yeah, they are. But II wathn't expectiing an ambush. The shoeth are... thomewhere, I think." Sollux got back on his feet and poured himself some hot chocolate and joined Psii at the dinner table. "Why did you make tho much of thith?"

"I figured I could put some of it in a heat insulating liquid holder. Then I can drink it all night. Or maybe take some with me if I go help John and his human ancestor."

"IIf you go? Why wouldn't you go? You thaiid you were curiiouth about John'th ancethtor." Sollux flailed his arms in an exaggerated manner.

Psii fidgeted under the unexpected reaction. That wasn't typical for a downswing day. "Erhmmh... Are you saying... You want me to go?"

Sollux sighed heavily, leaning his face into his hands. "No, I jutht thought you would go. Thought I'd have the place for mythelf. Tho I made planth. Karkat ith coming over later."

"Ermh... You just broke up last night. Isn't it a bit too soon to hop in the pile with someone?"

"Oh god, no! You got iit all wrong. II athked KK to organiithe me a break up recovery niight complete wiith junk food, viideo games and a moviie marathon. He caved iin when II promiised he could iinclude a romcom iin the moviie stack."

"And if he brings two?" Psii raised an eyebrow.

"He'll get extra poiints for tryiing but we'll thtiill only watch one. IIf we watch iit. Maybe there won't be tiime wiith all the other moviies and the games. But more iimportantly, are you goiing to leave or not? KK thaiid he'd come over after he hath told John about hiith change of planth."

"I'll go, but first I think I need to write a shopping list."

"What, wait, why do you need shopping list?"

"Back up plan. My excuse to get away from the scene if I don't want to stay there. Plus if I do end up having to use it, I'll come back to the hive with stuff we actually need and not something that only looks like it."

"Oh, that's a good iidea. Shiit, iif II had thought of that mythelf, II might have gone there after all."

Roughly ten minutes later Psii left the apartment with a surprisingly long shopping list in his pocket and nearly slammed the door into Karkat's face as he was about to ring the doorbell. Psii caught with his psionics the things Karkat dropped and set them next to the door. Then he quickly excused himself and absconded from the scene before Karkat recovered enough to yell at him.

As he approached the apartment that would be John's ancestor's from now on, he saw John standing outside the apartment and talking to Signless. Mituna and Latula were also standing there, but Psii couldn't tell if they were taking part in the conversation. They did laugh at something John said and left before Psii got there. They waved goodbye and headed for the stair well. Looked like the elevator was pretty much taken over by everyone helping with the moving in. Boxes were stacked along the walls all the way from the elevator to the apartment door.

"Hello, to both of you." Psii greeted, nodding first to Signless and then to John as he reached them.

"Hi mister Captor! Er, sorry, I meant Psiioniic." John waved at him.

"It's alright, John, don't worry about it too much. And Signless, you don't look like you're here to do heavy lifting. Weren't you going to make a mess in your respite block tonight?"

Signless smiled and hugged Psii. "That's the most concupiscently suggestive description of doing paper work I've ever heard. You've barely said hello to me and you're already doing the double entendres. Does that mean you're having a good night?"

Psii awkwardly returned the hug and tried to ignore Signless's hands on his butt. Why did Signless have to be so much shorter than him? And that exploratory squeeze signalled Signless was either flipping concupiscent on his ass or about to interrogate Psii on his recent eating habits, neither of which Psii wanted to deal with in public and in front of a literal alien. "I guess so, since that was purely unintentional. But let's talk more later, okay? You're busy and I have some errands to run."

Signless backed away from the hug and winked. "Sure, it's a date. Dinner time, my hive, no excuses. Bye John, tell your ancestor I'm sorry I couldn't stay and chat, but I'm sure we'll meet some other time."

"Okay, bye mister Vantas!" John waved goodbye as Signless walked away with a smug look on his face. John picked up one of the many boxes in the hallway and walked towards his ancestor's apartment. Psii followed him at a respectful distance and stopped outside the door, not feeling comfortable about going in a stranger's hive when he hadn't been explicitly invited. "John, are you moving everything by yourself? Didn't you get anyone to help? And wasn't your ancestor supposed to arrive tonight with her things? Did something happen?"

John came back out, having taken the box to the room it was meant for. "Oh, Nanna and the others are down at the street level, emptying the vans. We have a neat system going on. I move the boxes from the hallway. The Zahhaks are doing most of the heavy lifting. Gamzee and Nepeta bring up the lighter boxes in the elevator, and mister Makara brings up the more fragile heavy things with Nanna."

The elevator pinged behind Psii. John looked past him and said with a smile: "Oh. There she is. Well, I better get back to work."

John picked up another box and went back inside. Psii turned around. He noticed the Grand Highblood first, since the purpleblood carrying a TV was taking up more than half the hallway. It was the soft voice that turned Psii's attention to the white haired human woman who carried a small box. He didn't gawk at her, which he later was quite proud of, but he certainly couldn't stop staring. Her hair was lusus white, and her face looked like a cracked mirror with all the droopy folds of skin. It was an alien sight, but oddly endearing.

The human woman coming down the hall while talking with the Grand Highblood by her side, was small. Definitely shorter than John and with the Highblood by her side she looked positively tiny in comparison, tiny and cute. The big, brawny clown laughed at something she said to him. To Psiioniic's great displeasure, the massive clown noticed him first. "Hey there, pissblood! Are you here to stand around like some half-witted waste of space or are you going to do some heavy lifting for this mirthful lil' mama like a motherfucker of your stature is all up and supposed to be doing?"

"Mister Makara! Don't be so rude, and I thought you promised to tone down the cursing around me."

"I did tone it down. I only insulted him twice!"

Apparently the clown either couldn't count past two or had a different definition of what is an insult, because Psii counted three of them. At that moment John popped back into the hallway, fortunately becoming the new center of focus. "Hi Nanna, hi mister Makara! Nanna, this is mister Captor, one of the neighbours. I'm not sure if he's going to stay and help. He said something about running errands before... But at least now you two have met!"

"Yes, John, this is good. I look forward to meeting all my new neighbours eventually. Well, all except one. But please, mister Captor let me greet you properly before you run your errands." The woman nodded with a smile and handed the box to John. "Could you take this to the kitchen, and show mister Makara where to put the TV."

John and Grand Highblood exchanged a curious look but they went into the apartment mostly quietly. The woman turned to Psii and offered her hand for a shake. "Good to meet you, mister Captor, even if only briefly. My name is Anna Egbert, I'm John's Nanna. You can call me Anna, if you want to. Being called Mrs. Egbert by a neighbour seems awfully formal to me."

Psii grasped and shook her hand before he had time to think about it. Which was probably for the best, because the moment their hands touched, Psii felt like he had been electrified. Her hands were soft and small, and so warm, like Signless' hands were. Psii found himself wondering if other parts of her were equally warm and soft, and felt a light flush creeping on his cheeks. His heart fluttered at the passing thought of having those hands on his face...

Psii finally realized it was his turn to introduce himself. He gathered his thoughts to the best of his ability, which wasn't functioning ideally at the moment. "Uh... It'th a pleathure, krr-rhmmh, umh, sorry, let me try that again. It's a pleasure to meet you too, Anna. I'm Psiioniic Captor, but in the interest of not being too formal, you can call me just Psii if you want to."

"Well, Psii, that's an offer I won't refuse. I feel like we'll get along just fine. Being more or less neighbours we're bound to meet again sooner or later, so don't let me keep you from running your errands. I have plenty enough work to keep myself busy tonight."

"Oh, right, the errands... I suppose I can spare approximately 22 seconds to do some neighbourly helping." Psii's horns lit up and all the boxes in the hallway floated up in neat rows. Psii stepped back so he could see into the apartment. With a gesture consisting of jerking his head and pointing with his horns, which was more for show than anything else, the boxes flew along the hallway and through the door. He set the boxes down in neat rows and turned to Anna. "That took only about 6 seconds. I'll head downstairs and see what else I can get done with the remaining seconds I can spare."

"Whoah! What happened here?" John exclaimed in surprise inside the apartment.

The Grand Highblood laughed loudly. "Looks like the peasant couldn't resist the call of his motherfucking blood after all!"

Not being able to see the highblood, Anna shot a stern, disapproving glance towards the apartment. Then she turned to Psii and smiled that soft, kind smile that made Psii's heart flutter and face heat up. "You made an offer I won't refuse, Psii. Though I must say that was one fancy parlour trick, I wasn't expecting anything like that at all. You must be the life of any party you go to. Oh, and consider that your invitation to my housewarming party when I host one."

They chatted very little about anything of importance on their way down to street level. Psii enjoyed every moment of it before he dashed off to 'run his errands'. However, he couldn't help feeling confused and a tad guilty over how engaging her every word felt to him.


End file.
